According to The Asahi Shimbun, with the seemingly unhygienic tag line “Get sweat on your side,” Shiseido Co. said it has produced sunscreen that uses the perceived enemy of such products to increase protection from ultraviolet rays.
The additions to Shiseido’s Anessa range of products are part of cosmetics makers’ high-tech efforts to cater to the growing and evolving market for sunscreens.
Safer products for children and protection-enhanced sunscreen for sports-minded people are now on sale.
Sunscreen shipments in Japan reached about 50 billion yen (US$467 million) in 2015, almost double the amount 10 years ago, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
One long-held complaint about sunscreen is that the products drip away with or are at least diluted by sweat.
Shiseido said its three new products should erase such fears about perspiration and water by “reversing” the effect.
Perspiration spreads the products’ protective ingredients evenly, increasing the UV-protective effect by 20 percent, according to the company.
“We applied the technology used in hairstyling products that secure one’s hairstyle even when sweating,” said a Shiseido official in charge of sunscreen development.
One of Shiseido’s new products is ANESSA Perfect UV Sunscreen Aqua Booster, which has a suggested retail price of 3,240 yen (US$30.28), including tax, for a 60-milliliter bottle.
Kose Corp. is now selling Sports Beauty UVWEAR Super Hard under the Sports Beauty sunscreen brand. The product’s sun-block layer covers the skin in accordance with body movements during vigorous exercise, and it maintains a level of protection from UV rays even after sweating, according to the company.
The 50-milliliter version of Sports Beauty UVWEAR Super Hard has a suggested retail price of 2,160 yen, including tax.
Sunscreen makers are targeting another active group--children.
According to Kao Corp., the percentage of households with children of elementary school age or younger that use sunscreen daily on the kids rose to 21 percent in 2014 from 13 percent in 2007.
“As the sunscreen market for women has leveled off, we have expanded out target to children who are often exposed to UV rays while playing outside or in other situations,” a Kao official said.
Kao has started offering Biore Sarasara UV Nobinobi Kids Milk sunscreen, which uses a new technology that encases UV absorbing agents in small capsules. That prevents the agents from coming in direct contact with the children’s skin.
The product comes in 90-gram bottles and costs an estimated 800 yen, including tax.